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Americans between the ages of 60 and 78—the baby boomer generation—are commanding a sizable presence in the housing market lately, regaining their top spot as the largest share of home buyers. They accounted for 42% of buyers and 53% of sellers, the highest of any other age group, according to the National Association of REALTORS®’ newly released “2025 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report.”
They’re being motivated to buy or sell by the desire to move closer to family, friends and relatives, retirement, or wanting to downsize into a smaller home, according to NAR’s report.
“In a plot twist, baby boomers have overtaken millennials—the largest U.S. population—to become the top generation of home buyers,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist. “What’s striking is that half of older boomers and two out of five younger boomers are purchasing homes entirely with cash, bypassing financing altogether.”
Indeed, they’re finding they have the equity to do it. Consider, older adults have stayed in their current homes longer than other age groups (a median of 16 years among 70- to 78-year-olds and 13 years among 60- to 69-year-olds), allowing them to ride the wave of growing home appreciation over recent years. NAR data shows that in the last five years alone, home prices nationwide have risen 47%, which has proven a boon to homeowners’ net worth.
Older adults are the most likely to leverage their equity from a previous home sale for their next home purchase, which could be helping them to better weather current high home prices and bypass elevated mortgage rates that have been blamed for delaying prospective first-time home buyers. Sixty-two percent of 70- to 78-year-olds and 53% of 60- to 69-year-olds used the proceeds from the sale of a primary residence for their next home purchase, the most common source of their down payment, according to NAR’s report. Plus, while more than 90% of buyers 44 years and younger financed their home purchase, only 49% of older baby boomers needed a mortgage to purchase their next home. Recent NAR data has shown that all-cash home sales remain at historical highs, comprising 32% of transactions in February.
Having greater financial resources from the rise in home appreciation may also help explain why older buyers were the least likely age group to say they had to make any sacrifices when they purchased a home. Younger generations, on the other hand, described cutting their spending, delaying vacation plans and even getting a side hustle to afford today’s record-high home prices.
Yet, while baby boomers tended to be the most confident group of home buyers, they did share some common sentiments about the housing market with other age groups: Finding the right property is a challenging step, and they need the help of a real estate agent.
Real Estate Pros Remain Vital Ally
Regardless of age, real estate agents and brokers remain the top home buying and selling resource for home buyers, NAR’s report shows. “While the internet is being utilized throughout the home search, buyers continue to need the help of a real estate professional to help them find the right home, negotiate terms of sale and help with price negotiations,” the report states. “Agents remain the most used information source in the home search, followed by mobile or tablet search devices.”
Buyers of all age groups said their top reasons for working with a real estate agent were to get help finding the right home to purchase, negotiating the terms of the sale and the price, and completing paperwork, NAR’s survey shows.
For home sellers of all ages, real estate agents helped to price their homes competitively, market their homes to potential buyers, sell within a specific timeframe and pinpoint ways to fix up their homes to sell them for more.
Highlights in Buying, Selling Among the Generations
Here are some additional findings from NAR’s report, breaking down some age differences in the housing market:
- Gen Xers (ages 45 to 59) have the highest household incomes of any generation at $130,000 in 2023, followed by older millennials (ages 35 to 44) with a median household income of $127,500.
- Millennials make up the highest share of first-time home buyers, comprising 71% of younger millennials (26 to 34) and 36% of older millennials (35 to 44).
- Single females remain a force in the housing market: 20% of recent buyers were single females compared to just 8% of single males. The highest percentage of single female buyers were among Gen Z (ages 18 to 25) at 30%. “Gen Z is slowly entering the housing market with the lowest household income and they’re more likely to be single than other buyers,” Lautz says.
- Gen Xers were the most likely to purchase a multigenerational home. Twenty-one percent of Gen Xers purchased a home to accommodate multiple age groups under one roof. The most likely reasons cited: cost savings, to take care of and spend time with aging parents, and because children over the age of 18 are living in the home. “Gen Xers are today’s sandwich generation,” Lautz says. “While Gen X are purchasing at the highest household incomes, they may still feel the squeeze as they aim to find a home that serves everyone.”
- Baby boomers, at about 30%, were the most likely age group to purchase a newly built home, driven out of desires to avoid renovations and home repairs and the ability to choose and customize design features.
- Nearly 20% of buyers over the age of 60 purchased senior-related housing, most commonly a detached single-family home, followed by a duplex or condo in a two- to four-unit building or a townhouse or row house.
- Younger generations, ages 44 and below, were the most likely to make compromises on their home purchase, such as regarding the price of home they bought, the home’s condition or size.
- Twenty-seven percent of younger millennials (ages 26–34) and 13% of older millennials (ages 35–44) cited a gift from a relative or friend as one of the sources for their down payment.
- Buyers 60 and older were the most likely to purchase a home the furthest distance from their current residence, moving a median of 35 miles.
